York sugar crop lightest for 10 years
By FW reporters
ALTHOUGH the forecast yield for this years national sugar beet crop is in-line with the five-year average, growers near the York factory could have the lightest crop for more than a decade.
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British Sugars director of agriculture Chris Carter said that the average root weight should be about 689g, with a 17.3% sugar content, but there could be a considerable regional variation in yields. “Around York, 60% of the crop was drilled one month late, in May, because of the wet spring,” said Mr Carter. |
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This years sugar beet campaign got under way – for some – this week |
“This means that while in some areas the sugar beet lifting campaign got underway this week, the campaign near the processing factory at York will not begin until Oct 8 in an attempt to allow growers to boost yields.”
Staff at the NFU headquarters expressed concern that the later campaign in York was part of a general shift to push growers into later and later harvesting to boost sugar output.